Change at the top: Banking's newest CEOs

March 14, 2021 9:00 PM

It’s a time of transition at many U.S. banks.

Since late last year, a number of large and regional banks have either replaced their CEOs or announced plans to do so in the coming weeks.

Some, like Citigroup and MUFG Union Bank, promoted senior executives from within, while others brought in seasoned business-line leaders from larger banks. Perhaps not surprisingly, two companies, Texas Capital Bancshares and TIAA, hired their new leaders from JPMorgan Chase, the industry’s top training ground for future bank CEOs.

Here’s an introduction to the newest crop of bank CEOs.

Jane Fraser, Citigroup

The highest-profile CEO transition took place at Citigroup, where longtime senior executive Jane Fraser replaced Michael Corbat on March 1.

Fraser, 53, is not the first woman to lead a major U.S.-based bank — Beth Mooney blazed that path at KeyCorp a decade ago — but she is the first to head a company as large and complex as Citi. With nearly $2.3 trillion of assets, New York-based Citi is the third-largest bank holding company in the U.S. and one of the 15 largest in the world.

Expect Fraser, who had most recently served as CEO of Citi’s global consumer bank, to

implement a number of major changes

in an effort to boost revenue and improve the bank’s profitability metrics, which lag those of its peers.

Bloomberg recently reported that Fraser is considering

offloading certain retail banking units in the Asia-Pacific region

, and in January Citi announced the

consolidation of two wealth management

units into a single global division.

Improving Citi’s risk management is also a high priority after federal regulators issued

two consent orders

and a $400 million civil money penalty after finding deficiencies in the company's internal controls.

Brian Doubles, Synchrony Financial

Margaret Keane has run Synchrony Financial since the private-label credit card lender was a division of General Electric and was known as GE Capital Retail Finance.

Now, after a decade at the helm, Keane

is handing the reins to her longtime deputy Brian Doubles

. Doubles, 45, joined the company in 2010 and was its chief financial officer when it was spun off from GE and went public in 2014. He was named president in 2019 and will take over as CEO on April 1.

Keane has credited Doubles with leading many of Synchrony’s growth initiatives, including investments in contactless payments and point-of-sale lending, and Doubles is expected to accelerate those efforts as CEO.

“With Synchrony in a position of strength, now is the right time to begin this planned leadership transition,” Keane said in January. “Brian has helped build this company every step of the way and is the natural successor to advance our progress and lead Synchrony through the next stage of our journey.”

Synchrony, based in Stamford, Conn., has $96 billion of assets.

Kevin Cronin, MUFG Americas Holdings Corp.

For the second time in six years, the Japanese banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Holding Co. has appointed an American to run its U.S.-based bank, MUFG Union Bank.

In February, the Japanese conglomerate announced that Kevin Cronin, who had been its head of corporate banking for the Americas,

would replace

Stephen Cummings as CEO of the $133 billion-asset bank and its holding company, MUFG Americas Holdings Corp.

In 2015, Cummings made history as the first non-Japanese CEO of Union Bank and later became the first American to oversee all business operations across North America and Latin America.

Cronin had been one of Cummings’s top deputies, managing the bank’s portfolio of investment and wholesale business lines.

In a news release announcing the promotion, Kazuo Koshi, the executive board chairman at MUFG Union Bank and its holding company, said Cronin's deep knowledge of MUFG's U.S. operations "will ensure the continuity of transformational initiatives underway to position MUFG Americas for compelling and strategic growth.”

Cronin, 59, is expected to take the helm on March 31.

Thomas Cangemi, New York Community Bancorp

Of all the recent bank CEO appointments,

Thomas Cangemi’s at New York Community Bancorp

was perhaps the most surprising.

While Cangemi had long been seen as an heir apparent to CEO Joseph Ficalora, there had been no indication that change was imminent until the Westbury, N.Y., company announced in late December that Ficalora had suddenly retired as CEO and from its board and that Cangemi would replace him.

Cangemi, 52, had been chief financial officer at the $56 billion-asset New York Community since 2005.

In his first earnings call with analysts

, in January, Cangemi said that while the company would remain an active multifamily lender, it needs to lower its funding costs to improve profitability. Adding new business checking products and hiring experienced bankers could help attract new commercial clients, but Cangemi said the fastest way to add low-cost deposits is to merge with or buy another bank.

“We’re going to partner [because] partnerships will get it done a lot quicker and will make rational sense,” Cangemi said on the earnings call.

Rob Holmes, Texas Capital Bancshares

Texas Capital Bancshares in Dallas began its search for a new CEO last May after the pandemic forced it to

terminate its planned merger

with Independent Bank Group. Its CEO at the time, Keith Cargill, had planned to retire once the merger closed — Independent’s CEO David Brooks was slated to lead the combined company — but stepped down when the deal was called off, leaving Chairman Larry Helm in charge until a new CEO was appointed.

Enter Rob Holmes. After a nationwide search, the $38 billion-asset company in October announced that Holmes, a longtime JPMorgan Chase executive,

would take over as CEO in January

.

A Dallas native, Holmes had worked for JPMorgan and its predecessor banks since 1989 and had been the bank’s global head of corporate client banking and specialized industries since 2011. Before that, he was co-head of its North American retail industries practice and head of investment banking for the southern region of the U.S.

Helm said Holmes, 56, is “the right leader” to drive growth in the company’s core commercial banking business.

“Rob brings ... a proven record of driving innovation, building client relationships, developing talent and fostering a strong culture,” he said.

Helm will remain Texas Capital’s board chairman.

Andy Harmening, Associated Banc-Corp

Like Texas Capital, Associated Banc-Corp in Green Bay, Wis., hired an outsider to be its next CEO.

The $33 billion-asset company said last week that it

hired Huntington Bancshares executive Andy Harmening

to replace Philip Flynn, who is retiring in April after 11 years at the helm.

Harmening, 50, has been head of consumer and business banking at Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington and has been credited with

leading a digital overhaul

that helped drive much of the division’s rapid growth. Harmening is not doing interviews just yet, but industry analysts said that he will likely look to replicate that success at Associated.

“He’s known for the work he did on digitization at Huntington,” said Scott Siefers, managing director and senior research analyst at Piper Sandler. “Given how meaningfully the pandemic accelerated customers’ moves broadly toward digital in that vein, it made a lot of sense for Associated to accelerate its own offerings.”

Harmening takes over as CEO on April 28.

Thasunda Brown Duckett, TIAA

TIAA is primarily an asset manager and retirement services provider, but it has a sizable banking presence thanks to its 2016 acquisition of Jacksonville, Fla.-based EverBank.

Last month the company announced that it had

hired longtime JPMorgan Chase executive Thasunda Brown Duckett

to replace Roger Ferguson Jr. as president and CEO. Ferguson had planned to retire on March 31 but will now stay on for another month until Duckett takes over on May 1.

Duckett, 47, has been CEO of Chase Consumer Banking since 2016 and in September was named to JPMorgan Chase’s operating committee, the leadership team that sets strategy for the nation’s largest bank.

At Chase, Duckett led a business unit with more than $600 billion of deposits, more than 40,000 employees and 4,900 branches and oversaw its five-year plan to open 400 branches in new markets across the country.

At TIAA, she will manage a firm with more than $1.3 trillion of assets under management that offers a wide range of investment, banking and retirement services.

In a news release announcing the hire, Chairman Ronald Thompson praised Duckett as “an exceptionally dynamic and inspirational leader” who is also “deeply mission-oriented.”

“She brings invaluable experience leading and growing large, complex businesses, setting and executing strategy, improving client experience and attracting and developing talent,” he said.

Kevin Blair, Synovus Financial

Synovus Financial will have its first new CEO in 11 years when President

Kevin Blair replaces Kessel Stelling

at the helm next month.

Blair had been corporate treasurer at SunTrust Banks before joining Synovus as its chief financial officer in 2016. He has been promoted twice since, first to chief operating officer in 2018 and then to president in 2019.

In his current role, Blair, 50, oversees all of the $54.4 billion-asset company’s core banking and business specialty lines, technology, human resources, operations, credit, marketing, customer experience and corporate strategy.

“Kevin’s leadership strengths, innovative mindset and commitment to our people-first culture and communities make him the right leader for this company at the right time,” Stelling said when the leadership transition was announced in December.

Blair is expected to take over as CEO on April 22, the day after Synovus’s annual shareholder meeting. Stelling, 64, will stay on as executive chairman until Jan. 1, 2023, and will serve in an advisory role for two years after that.

Nitin Mhatre, Berkshire Hills Bancorp

For the third time in less than three years, Berkshire Hills Bancorp in Boston has a new CEO.

In January, the $12.9 billion-asset company hired Nitin Mhatre away from Webster Financial to serve as its president and CEO.

Mhatre had been vice president of community banking at Waterbury, Conn.-based Webster, overseeing consumer and business banking operations. While at Webster,

he also served a one-year stint

as chair of the Consumer Bankers Association.

At Berkshire Hills, Mhatre replaced Sean Gray, who had been acting CEO since Richard Marotta

abruptly resigned in August

, and who has returned to his previous role of president and chief operating officer.

Marotta's sudden departure came less than two years after longtime CEO Michael Daly unexpectedly resigned

in November 2018

.

Mhatre is tasked with improving Berkshire’s profitability after the company reported a $533 million loss in 2020, mostly due to a large goodwill impairment tied to a string of acquisitions made by Daly.

In his first few weeks on the job, Mhatre also had to mend fences with an activist investor that had wanted Berkshire Hills to sell itself rather than hire a new CEO.

A truce

with that investor, HoldCo Asset Management, was reached last week when Berkshire Hills agreed to add two HoldCo representatives to its board.